Herman Hoeh Accused Homer of Being Demon Posessed

Back in the 1960s Herman Hoeh wrote a two volume narrative named Compendium of World History. It was similar to the 1952 book Ages in Chaos by Immanuel Velikovsky. Hoeh made many claims and assertions in that two volume work. Among other things he claimed that there were three Trojan Wars ending in 1181 BC, 1149 BC and 677 BC. But, he complains, Homer contradicted this claim so Hoeh responded to Homer's contradiction with the following accusation:

Homer was possessed by Satan's demons and, under demonic influence, wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey in such a way that events of the three Trojan Wars were combined together to confuse people and contradict Hoeh's pseudo-history.

This bizarre, ignorant and superstitious accusation may be seen in Chapter 17 of Volume 1.

How Greek History Was Corrupted 

It is not generally admitted. But Homer, the famous epic poet of Greece, was mad. His "Iliad" and "Odyssey" -- recording the events surrounding the Greek struggles with Troy -- were written while Homer was demented. 

Homer was not merely an insane poet. He was also a mad historian. Through Homer Greek history was altered, with diabolical cleverness. Homer telescoped three Greek wars with Troy into one. Men and events five centuries apart are artificially joined together as if contemporary. Recent archaeological investigation at Troy reveals Homer's lie. There are three wars layers -- the first and last separated by about five centuries' (See C. W. Blegen's "Troy," in the revised edition of the "Cambridge Ancient History".) 

Little wonder Paul the apostle wrote of Homer -- and of Hesiod and the other demented poets: "Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying ..." (I Timothy 1:4). 

Greeks Admit Homer Was Demented 

No poet in ancient Greece was ever considered worthy of special honor unless he was demented. Democritus "denies that any one can be a great poet, unless he is mad," wrote Cicero (Cicero, "Divin"., i, 80). Homer was therefore mad. 

Plato described the unusual kind of insanity that clutched the minds of Greece's great poet-historians and philosophers. In the "Phaedrus" Plato characterizes "poetic inspiration" as the "state of being possessed by the Muses" -- a kind of "madness, which, on entering a delicate and virgin soul, arouses and excites it to frenzy in odes and other kinds of poetry .... But he that is without the Muses' madness when he knocks at the doors of Poesy, fancying that art alone will make him a competent poet, -- he and his poetry, the poetry of sober sense, will never attain perfection, but will be eclipsed by the poetry of inspired madmen" (245 A). Again, in the "Laws" Plato wrote that "whenever a poet is enthroned on the tripod of the Muse, he is not in his right mind" (719 C). In "Ion" the Greek theory of "inspiration" is most thoroughly expressed: "It is not by art, but by being inspired and possessed, that all good epic poets produce their beautiful poems they are dancing, even so the melic poets are not in their right mind when they are composing their beautiful strains. On the contrary, when they have fallen under the spell of melody and metre, they are like inspired revellers, and on becoming possessed, -- even as the Maenads are possessed and not in their right senses ... the soul of the melic poets acts in like manner, as they themselves admit .... And what they say is true; for the poet ... cannot compose until he becomes inspired and out of his senses, with his mind no longer in him; but, so long as he is in possession of his senses, not one of them is capable of composing, or of uttering his oracular sayings" (533 E-534 D). 

In Biblical terms, Homer and all the famous Greek poet-historians were possessed of demons. It was not really the poets or philosophers who uttered the sayings, but the demon, masquerading as God, "who is the speaker, and it is THROUGH them that he is speaking to us," concluded the author of "Ion". 

The conclusion is absolutely clear. History has purposely been perverted by the diabolical influence of fallen spirits who seized the minds of poet-historians, such as Homer and Hesiod, and through them twisted the events of antiquity. Jesus Himself declared that Satan, the prince of demons, "deceiveth the whole world" (Revelation 12:9). One of Satan's clever artifices is manifest in the form of corrupted history! This diabolical plot to make God and His Word appear untrue has deceived the whole world.

And it was not just Greek history that got corrupted by demonic influence according to Hoeh. Egyptian and Mesopotanian history was altered due to demonic influence as well in such a way that they agreed with each other he confidently insists to the reader.

The same diabolical conspiracy that worked through Homer in Greece also worked through the priesthood of Egypt. Its dynasties were deliberately placed successively so that sections of Egyptian history appeared five centuries earlier. Similar diabolic manipulations occurred in Mesopotamia. When later Greek, Roman, and now modern critics and historians found Homer in apparent agreement with the altered Egyptian and Mesopotamian data, they never thought to question Homer or the Egyptian records. The conspiracy -- the deception -- was so thorough, so far superior to human ingenuity that the whole world has been deceived by it.

What garbage. How terrible it is to fill up peoples' minds with this bizarre, superstition fear concerning such ancient and profoundly important works such as the Iliad and the Odyssey. It is just disgusting.

If archaeology concluded that Troy was burnt to the ground three times that does not mean that Homer combined the three wars into one war.

Poetic language describing the joy of the creative process while making a work of art, such as writing poetry, is crudely twisted to insist that they were describing demonic possession.

Hoeh cites Democritus to insist that poets were mad and ludicrously uses that one sentence of his to claim Homer was demented and demon possessed.

Hoeh clearly wanted to believe his conclusions but he crudely dismisses any contrary information as part of some demonic conspiracy. How convenient for him. What a way to deal with contrary information. Just say the devil did it so listen to me.

When one reads filthy junk like this it is far easier to see how he could have decided in 1953 that Christ would return in 1975.

Hoeh later moved away from Armstrongism but so many people still refuse to move on and continue to revere Hoeh's writings from the time he wrote nonsense like that.